Saquon Barkley contract update: Giants rumored to be nearing $14,000,000 solution in time for Week 1 vs Cowboys

Saquon Barkley put the fear of God in New York Giants fans this offseason by threatening a long hold out over a dispute with his contract. Well, one NFL analyst has claimed that a deal will get done in the coming days.

Speaking on the Craig Carton Show via ML Football on Twitter, the show host claimed that a deal is more than 50 per cent likely to get done by the end of the upcoming weekend. Here's how he put it:

"I picked up the phone yesterday, made a couple of calls... there is a better than 50/50 shot that a deal gets done by or on Monday... the magic number I was told is that he will get in the neighborhood of $14 million a year, which would make him the third highest-paid running back behind Kamara and McCaffrey."

He didn't mention how many years the deal would last for, but most deals with such a high payout often go between three and four seasons. Of course, with the current state of the running back market, there's no guarantee as to when the dead cap setup would allow the team to start saving money if they moved on.

A new report has also emerged where New York Post's Rydun Leavy has revealed that the Giants' best offer for their star RB includes $19.5 million of guaranteed money.

---

Why are the Giants hesitating to pay Saquon Barkley?

No. 26 at NFC Divisional Playoffs - New York Giants v Philadelphia Eagles

The main concern with the running back over the course of his career was what happened in 2020 and 2021. In 2020, Barkley played in just two games because of injury. Then, in 2021, he played in 13 games but fell well short of 1000 yards and having a 1000-yard pace.

Of course, in 2022, both Barkley and quarterback Daniel Jones both rebounded at the 11th hour, putting the team in a tough position. They had gone into the year with likely a mindset already pushing them to make plans without both stars in 2023. However, after the team's playoff surge, the team decided to keep both around.

That said, they elected to give Jones an expensive multi-year deal while sticking Saquon Barkley with a franchise tag. As a result, Barkley was not too pleased with the result and threatened a holdout.

Many analysts predicted that such a loss would devastate Daniel Jones' offense, but it appears that the team has side-stepped any real hangover from the contract dispute for the 2023 season, assuming the unnamed source is accurate.